


This Is Your Baptism

by Lady_Oscar



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Dreams and Nightmares, Egg Laying, Eggpreg, F/F, Fan Offspring, Gem Egg Hell, Jasper May Have Some Issues, Miscarriage, Missing Scene, Original Character(s), Premature Birth, Slice of Life, This is The Cheeto Mom Chronicles, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-17 14:49:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 13,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4670747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Oscar/pseuds/Lady_Oscar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything changed after Jasper became pregnant with Yellow Diamond's gemlings.</p><p>~~~ 9/21/2017 - It's been a year and a day since I last updated this fic, so I am declaring it officially on hiatus, possibly to never be finished. -Lady O.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The E rating is for the first chapter only (so far). 
> 
> Wowee, I overhauled my tags for the first time in a year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set before the episode "The Return."

Jasper cursed Yellow Diamond -- not for the first or last time. 

The orange Gem was full of her leader and mate’s geodes, which had settled uncomfortably in her abdomen. She was overheated for one of the few times in her long life and sweated terribly; geodes required an incredible amount of internal heat to form correctly, and it was taking a toll on her physical body. No wonder Gems had turned to Kindergartens. The discomfort and weakness just wasn’t worth it. 

Also not worth it was being on this ship with Peridot, who would not stop whining about having to go to the pathetic abandoned Kindergarten planet known as Earth. While Jasper agreed with her on the many shortcomings of Earth, between her droning voice and the constant shifting of the geodes, it was too much for one Gem to take. 

“Where are you going?” Peridot paused from her litany to ask. 

“To get away from you,” Jasper said with a huff. 

Peridot’s whinging was irritating, but truth be told, there was another issue. The heat and weight of the geodes were starting to affect Jasper in … other ways. The geodes seemed increasingly intent on pressing down on her most sensitive areas from within, and she found herself longing for Yellow Diamond’s touch. But she was here, stuck on a ship headed for Earth, and her mate was on Homeworld. So much for Yellow Diamond. As Jasper stalked off down the corridor, she figured it was time to take things into her own hands. 

Eager for just a little relief, she started phasing off her outer layer of garments as she walked. She felt a bit better and immediately wondered if she could just dispense with all clothing until the wretched geodes were laid. She smirked to herself thinking of Peridot’s reaction to that. 

“What are you doing?” came an incredulous voice 

Crap. The prisoner. Jasper had forgotten all about Lapis Lazuli amidst the discomfort of the geodes and the blathering of Peridot. 

“What are you doing?” Lapis repeated. 

“None of your business,” Jasper said. 

Lapis came as close to the cell barrier as she dared and peered at Jasper. It was hard to make out every detail through the barrier, but she saw Jasper clearly enough. She looked the big gem over, and her eyes settled on her stomach, which was oddly distended. She observed that Jasper seemed to have trouble moving around, as if something was weighing her down. Was Jasper carrying geodes? It had been a very long time since Lapis had seen an expectant Gem, but the gait of one was unmistakable. 

“Jasper?”

“What?!”

“Are you carrying geodes?” 

“It’s none of your business, brat!” 

“I thought Gems had lost that ability,” she said in a small voice. 

“Not all of us. Lucky me.” The orange Gem turned and stuck out her belly even farther as if to brag. 

“Could you come closer?” Lapis asked. 

“No.”

“I want to see them.” 

“You can see that I’m carrying from there.” 

“I want to touch them,” Lapis said in another small voice. 

“You’re just saying that so I’ll let you out of your cell.” 

“You could come in here with me,” Lapis suggested. 

“This one is quick,” Jasper thought to herself. 

She weighed her options. If Lapis wanted to touch her so badly, then maybe Jasper could turn it into a different kind of touching. At least someone wanted to give her attention, she thought irritably. Making sure a destabilizer was within reach, Jasper shut off the barrier of Lapis’ cell. 

Lapis moved toward Jasper cautiously, in part because she wasn’t sure if the barrier was completely turned off and in part because she wasn’t sure what the big Gem would do. 

The smaller Gem reached out and placed a hand on Jasper’s belly. She trailed her fingers slowly, carefully feeling the outline of at least three round geodes. 

“How many are there?” 

“Seven,” Jasper said through gritted teeth. Even Lapis’ soft touches were enough to make her shudder if she gave in to it. 

Suddenly impatient with Lapis’ inspection, Jasper grabbed her hand and moved it below her belly toward the shorts she was still wearing. 

“Jasper!” Lapis yelped, pulling her hand away quickly 

Jasper shrugged and made an attempt to look embarrassed. 

“You’re so warm,” Lapis said, finally, eager to break the tension. 

“I know,” she said. “It feels … it feels like I’m on fire all of the time.” 

“I think I have something that could help,” the blue Gem said. She summoned her water wings and laid them gently on Jasper’s thick arms. 

Jasper let out a clipped sigh of relief. Lapis’ wings were cool against her skin, surprisingly much cooler than any metal in the ship, which she had taken to leaning against surreptitiously to ease the burning of her skin. 

Still holding her wings against her, Lapis looked shyly up at Jasper. The orange Gem was gazing down at her with an odd expression, like she was trying to remain angry but was having trouble mustering up the energy. 

In that moment, Lapis felt a strange tenderness for the orange Gem despite her gruffness and unwanted forwardness; carrying geodes couldn’t be easy, especially without her mate, whoever it was, around. She stood on tiptoe to kiss Jasper on the cheek. 

“What did you do that for?” she asked dumbly. 

“I don’t know,” Lapis replied. 

Seeing her chance, Jasper pulled the blue Gem close and kissed her full on the mouth. She continued to kiss her roughly and started to nip at her neck. Lapis closed her eyes and melted against her, dissolving into the furnace of her skin; it had been a long time, she realized, since she had bonded with another Gem in this way, and it felt incredible, even with Jasper’s elevated temperature. She doubted Jasper had any idea of what this meant to her. 

She felt Jasper pulling at the straps of her top. 

“Let me,” she said. Lapis phased off her clothes and stood before Jasper, who only smirked and quickly picked off the rest of her own clothing, throwing them down the corridor. 

The orange Gem took her hand and started easing them both toward the floor. 

“I need this,” she said in a low, hoarse voice. 

Jasper moved to lay on her back, moaning softly as the geodes shifted inside her. She spread her legs invitingly for the blue Gem, who knelt between them and reached down to gently trace a finger around her hole there. She gasped. The orange Gem was so slick for her already. 

Getting down on her belly, Lapis flicked her tongue experimentally against the bigger Gem, who writhed and growled out something that might have been “more.” 

The harder Lapis went, the more Jasper squirmed, which made the geodes shift once more. Jasper regretted she wasn’t going to last long because she wanted to see what else the pretty blue Gem could do for her. 

With a loud moan, she slammed a fist against the floor and shuddered with Lapis’ tongue still on her. As Jasper made no move to push her away, Lapis licked her fill of the big Gem, who tasted strangely sweet, completely at odds with her overall disposition. She could have giggled but feared what Jasper would do in response. Unsure of what else to do, Lapis finally sat up and glanced up at Jasper. 

“Come here,” she said. 

Lapis looked at her questioningly. 

“You helped me,” Jasper said. “I return favors.” 

The orange Gem lifted her with one hand and started to position Lapis over her mouth. 

“I can still do this,” she said with the barest hint of what would be sheepishness in any other Gem.

Jasper’s face was noticeably warm like the rest of her body but not unpleasantly so, especially with how Lapis was sitting. Jasper began to lick at her roughly, and the blue Gem rolled her eyes -- nothing was subtle about the other Gem apparently. Still, she ground down on Jasper, intending to enjoy this last unexpected bit of release. 

***

Neither of them heard Peridot’s approach. The green Gem had been listening to their coupling with increasing revulsion and had at last decided to check out the scene. 

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?” she shrieked.


	2. Chapter 2

“I’m reporting this!” Peridot shouted as she strode off. 

Quickly phasing her clothes back on, Jasper followed after the green Gem. 

“Like hell you are,” Jasper growled. 

She reached out to grab Peridot by the neck, that being one of the few places not covered with ridiculous prosthesis. 

“What are you doing to do?” The green Gem taunted even while in Jasper’s grasp. “I know you can’t summon a weapon right now.” 

“I don’t need a weapon for what I’m going to do to you.” 

The smaller Gem blew a raspberry at Jasper and sent all of her fingers to poke at the orange Gem’s face. Knowing Jasper could either hold on to her or swipe at the fingers, Peridot started squirming and flailing, hoping it would lead to the other Gem dropping her faster. 

Above the din, the orange Gem heard the distinctive flap of Lapis’ wings and looked back to see the blue Gem watching with a panicked expression. 

“Jasper, stop,” she said. “What if she hits the geodes?” 

As she opened her mouth to reply, the main comm screen flickered into life on one side of the room, and all three Gems froze in place. It was Yellow Diamond tuning in for her regularly scheduled communique. 

The Gem leader looked on as Jasper suddenly dropped Peridot to the floor, and Lapis quickly flew out of sight. 

“What’s this?” she demanded. “What is the prisoner doing out? And what were you doing to Peridot, Jasper?” 

Jasper let out an indignant huff. She knew when she had been caught red-handed. 

“Peridot, leave us.” Yellow Diamond said. “I wish to speak to Jasper alone.” 

The two big Gems watched as Peridot shuffled off, muttering to herself about her fall to the floor scuffing her armor. 

“My dear Jasper,” Yellow Diamond said. “You’re getting so big.” 

“I know,” the orange Gem replied. 

“I think it’s time ... you knew the other purpose of this mission.” 

“What’s that?” 

“I want you to have the pups on Earth.” 

“What?” 

“You know we’ve been trying to restart the Kindergartens, but we don’t even know if newborn Gems can still thrive on Earth,” she said in her most syrupy voice. “Preliminary data suggests the planet has changed quite a bit since the War.” 

“You can’t do this,” Jasper said, her voice rising. “I won’t do it.” 

“I can, and you will.” 

“But the pups are yours, too.” 

“I know. Who better than our offspring to take back the Earth?” 

Peridot barged into the room from where she apparently had been eavesdropping. 

“What about the Cluster?!” she asked. 

“It’s always good to have a back-up plan,” the Diamond said smoothly. 

The screen went black. 

“No,” Jasper said, stepping back from the screen. “Not here! These pups will not be born on Earth.” She slammed a fist into a console panel, which shattered and emitted green sparks. 

“You oaf!” Peridot said shrilly. “What are you doing to my ship?” 

Still in shock over Yellow Diamond’s directive, Jasper turned and stared down the green Gem as she summoned her helmet without thinking.

“Ugh, what’s that smell?” Peridot asked suddenly, looking around and finally looking back at Jasper. 

Jasper glanced down and then felt a rush of fluid slicking her thighs. Going down on one knee, she clutched her stomach. The geodes were in trouble: drawing a weapon must have severed their connection to her gemstone, and her body was trying to expel them. It was much too soon. They wouldn’t survive, she thought dumbly. 

She felt her body glitch. Her gem was calling her back, and a terrible noise like a whine from a Wailing Stone filled her head. What had she done? She needed to go, but what about the geodes? She couldn’t take them with her. 

On both knees now and howling in pain, she felt the first geode slipping out. And then another and another until there were four on the ground glistening beneath her. Her body glitched again. She couldn’t do this. She didn’t know what would happen if she poofed with geodes still in her but surely it would damage her gem. 

“Jasper, NO!” she heard a voice say. “Stay here!” 

It was Lapis. The blue Gem sounded so far away as the whining noise in her head became even louder. Her gem was going to crack if she didn't go back soon. She knew it.

She suddenly felt a stream of water splash over her head and broke out of her stupor. 

She realized Lapis was in front of her bouncing on one foot and then the other. Her wings were gone, having used to them to revive the orange Gem. 

Steeling herself, Jasper tried to push out the last of geodes and couldn’t. Lapis saw her distress and reached for her stomach. 

“Don’t touch me!” she shrieked. 

“You weren’t saying that a little while ago,” Lapis said coolly, trying to get a reaction from Jasper. 

Her remark worked as the orange Gem snapped her head up and glared at Lapis. 

She let the blue Gem press down on her abdomen and feel for the geodes. The final three slid out, and then she couldn’t hold on any longer. She poofed into her gem in a haze of white light. 

Lapis looked at the cluster of geodes on the floor and frowned. They were still in the shell. That was bad. Newborn Gems usually hatched on their way out of their mother’s body or shortly thereafter. 

She guessed they probably still needed heat, but Lapis doubted she could provide enough for them even if she kept them close to her body somehow. She was much too small, and there were too many of them. In the end, she bubbled them, thinking they would at least be safe that way. It seemed crass to just leave them on the floor, and she doubted Peridot would do anything useful for them. 

She saw that Jasper’s gem was lying nearby, and picking up the stone, set it gently on the console. The only thing to do was wait.


	3. Interlude

Jasper sat and stared at her bubbled geodes morosely. After regenerating and spotting the blue bubble, she had cornered Lapis and demanded to know many geodes had been alive when she bubbled them, but the blue Gem said she couldn’t remember and shrank away from the angry Gem. Jasper had slumped against the ship wall and let out what only could be called a roar in grief. 

At present, two of the geodes had a faint yellow glow, so Jasper supposed they were alive somehow, but otherwise the rest of them seemed dull and lifeless. She thought the living pair could still be saved, but the orange Gem was afraid to break Lapis’ bubble and unintentionally harm them further. Unsure of what else to do for them at this point, she settled for keeping the bubble near her at all times. 

The big Gem remained silent until Earth was in sight of the ship. There was nothing to say. Not even insulting Peridot had its usual appeal, and in a surprising fit of wisdom, the young green Gem kept her mouth shut unless absolutely necessary. 

In her solitude, Jasper recalled how she had argued with Yellow Diamond over the prudence of her going on a mission off Homeworld while carrying, but the Diamond had won out, assuring the orange Gem that the mission would be over relatively quickly. Even if carrying, the Diamond had said, Jasper was still her best warrior and this was a special assignment. 

A special assignment indeed, Jasper thought bitterly, remembering her leader’s instructions to keep their pups on Earth. 

Clenching and unclenching a red fist, she looked at the shell of the comm screen -- Peridot had informed her that it was damaged beyond even her expertise. They were on their own now, and there was nothing to do but stay the course. Jasper vowed to confront Yellow Diamond as soon as she came back to Homeworld. 

As they came closer and closer to Earth, she took the bubble of geodes to the far end of the ship, safely away from the prison block section and any captive Gems that might be nosy. The strange pair of geodes still glowed softly inside the bubble; reassured that maybe two of her offspring would survive this awful mission, Jasper strode off in search of Lapis and readied herself to descend on Earth for the first time in millennia.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Set immediately after Steven and Connie's reconciliation in "Full Disclosure.")

Steven and Connie had been sitting companionably in silence on the beach near the Gem warship wreckage when the latter heard a strange noise. 

“Steven, do you hear something?” Connie asked. 

“No?” he replied. 

“Shh, be quiet for a second,” she said. 

They sat and listened for whatever Connie had discerned; just as Steven was about to open his mouth to say something, they both heard a soft mewling sound. 

“It sounds like … an animal ... like a kitten or something,” Connie said nervously. 

“Should we go see what it is?” Steven asked. 

They got up and crept around a broken-off corridor, stopping every so often to listen for the odd mewling noise. Eventually they came to a bit of wreckage on the other side of the corridor that was still smoking from the initial crash. 

In the middle of the debris was a small lump of what looked like damp white hair or fur surrounded by odd yellow shards. The creature mewled pitifully and quivered as the children approached. 

“St-St-Steven, what is that?” Connie stuttered. 

“I don’t know.” 

Steven bent down to look more closely at the lump of hair and reached out to touch it. 

“Ugh, slimy,” he said, wiping his hand on his pants. 

“Steven, be careful!,” Connie admonished. 

In response to Steven’s touch, the lump quivered again and then turned over to reveal a small yellow body with faint orange markings and a small triangular gemstone where its nose would be. 

Both Steven and Connie gasped. 

“Is that … ababyGem?” Connie asked excitedly. 

“I don’t know, I’ve never ... seen one before.” 

Steven took off his shirt and used it to scoop up and dry off the tiny Gem, which mewled once more in response. 

Looking down at the tiny Gem swaddled in his shirt, he was worried. She had been rather cold to the touch despite having been surrounded by the smoking wreckage of the ship. He couldn’t recall any of the Crystal Gems ever being cold. Moreover, her eyes were eerily featureless like Lapis’ had been when her gemstone was cracked. There was definitely something wrong with the infant. 

“Connie, does she seem sick?” he asked shyly. 

“I don’t think Gems can get sick, Steven.”

The pair bent over the Gem, trying desperately to find any defects. 

“Steven, her gemstone!,” Connie exclaimed. 

She was right. In his excitement, he hadn’t noticed it right away, but the tiny Gem had an equally tiny crack in her gemstone. 

“Good thing I know how to fix this!” he said, winking at Connie. 

He carefully sat down with the infant in his lap and licked his hand so he could gently swipe it against her nose. Her yellow gemstone immediately glowed and repaired itself. The tiny Gem then stretched her small arms, blinked her bright yellow eyes and turned to look at Steven. And started squalling loudly. 

“Don’t cry, baby Gem,” he said. 

He looked at Connie, who had been standing transfixed at the sight of the newly healed Gem. 

“What do I do?” he asked anxiously. 

“Most babies of most species like to be rocked. Like so …” 

Connie took the infant Gem from Steven and swayed her gently with her arms and then brought her close to her body. The hatchling soon quieted and snuggled against the front of Connie’s dress. 

“I think she likes you,” Steven said, smiling fondly at Connie and the infant Gem. “There’s already a Steven Jr., so why don’t we call her Connie Jr.?” 

“I’m sure she has a Gem name, Steven,” Connie said while stifling a giggle. 

The pair took turns holding the baby Gem and petting her soft white hair. The hatchling closed her eyes and appeared to fall asleep. 

”Is she … sleeping? I thought Gems didn’t need to sleep?” Connie asked quietly. 

“Maybe the baby ones do?” Steven answered uncertainly. 

“Steven, we need to show this to the Crystal Gems,” she said urgently. 

With Steven gently cradling the sleeping hatchling in his discarded shirt, he and Connie slowly walked up the stairs to the beach house. The infant Gem chose the moment the children opened the front door to wake up and begin squalling again. 

The three adult Crystal Gems had been sitting on the couch, deep in discussion, but were immediately silenced by the sound of the newborn Gem. They stared at Steven and Connie in shock as none of the trio had heard, much less seen, a hatchling in 5,000 years or more. 

All three adults quickly crowded around the children, yet none of them had anything to say for once, although Pearl kept noisily opening and quickly closing her mouth. 

Amethyst finally spoke up. 

“Uh, guys, doesn’t she look kind of like Jasper?” she said, reaching out to touch the infant’s pale shock of hair. 

Garnet and Pearl looked at each other uneasily. 

“Steven, where did you find her?” Garnet asked suddenly. 

“We found her in the ship,” he replied. 

“Show us, Steven.” 

The two children led the way to the spot where they had found the baby Gem. 

Garnet instructed Amethyst and Pearl to search the rest of the debris for any signs of other hatchlings while she herself squatted close to the ground to inspect the yellow shards in which Steven said the infant had been laying. 

The tall Gem guessed the infant had prematurely hatched on the ship, possibly even as the ship crashed down. 

***

Pearl came striding up with her spear in hand and Amethyst in tow. 

“No signs of life in any other parts of the ship,” the white Gem said. 

“Nada,” Amethyst interjected. 

“Then it seems this is the only hatchling here,” Garnet said. 

“Can we keep her?” Steven asked excitedly. 

“Of course, Steven. Who else is going to take care of her?” the tall Gem said, gently patting the infant in Steven’s arms.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter ... Ronaldo

As soon as he was able to following the Gem warship explosion over Beach City, Ronaldo rushed to the hill with the lighthouse and its ever so important headquarters of the Keep Beach City Weird blog. He was determined to document every piece of debris from the space hand ship on the hill with Peedee reluctantly in tow as his cameraman and assistant. 

As they slowly made their way toward the lighthouse, Ronaldo started to feel a sensation of being watched or followed. At first he didn’t think anything of it - it was a feeling he was familiar with from all of the years the lighthouse had been haunted by what turned out to be a corrupted Gem. Nonetheless, that sensation usually only occurred inside the KBCW headquarters, not outdoors. It was probably just Peedee, he reasoned, and kept examining a length of what appeared to be tubing from the ship. 

He looked up and realized that Peedee was in front of him, dutifully circling and filming a piece of the ship he had yet to personally inspect. He walked toward Peedee and the eerie feeling continued. He wondered if it had to do with the pieces of the mysterious space hand ship. Perhaps the debris had imbued the hill with a strange energy that was now affecting him. He was just about to call Peedee over so he could say a few words to the camera about what he suspected were the supernatural properties of the ship when he felt something brush his leg. 

He looked down at his feet to see a small yellow creature with faint orange markings and a small triangular gemstone where its nose should be. He let out an abrupt scream. 

“Ronaldo, what is it?” Peedee asked as he put down the camera. 

“No, keep the camera, this could be an important discovery!” he yelled. 

Ronaldo pointed at the creature near his feet, and Peedee gasped. The younger brother took a few steps toward him, and Ronaldo gestured for him to stand back. 

“Keep your distance - it could be dangerous!”

“Uh, Ronaldo, I think it’s a baby ... something ... like whatever Steven’s family is,” Peedee replied. 

Ignoring his brother’s comment, Ronaldo bent down very slowly into a squat at a safe span away from the hatchling Gem, just in case it lashed out.The strange infant merely blinked at him and started crawling towards him. 

“We have to keep it contained,” he said, standing up suddenly and backing away from the creature. He ran off toward the lighthouse and the KBCW headquarters. 

“I don’t … really think that’s necessary,” Peedee called after him with a sigh. 

The younger boy looked down at the small yellow Gem. It was kind of cute in a way, he thought to himself, and bent into a squat himself to get a better look at it. 

“Be careful, little bro!” Ronaldo wheezed. 

Peedee noticed he had brought a cardboard box down from the lighthouse and watched as he set it on the ground in front of the infant Gem. Ronaldo then took a pair of gardening gloves from his pocket, and pulling them on, gingerly picked up the Gem and put it in the cardboard box.

“Keep the camera on this … creature, I need to think this through,” he said to Peedee. 

Now that infant was safely contained, he realized it appeared to be like one of the Gems that hung around Steven, although clearly it was a juvenile. He had never heard Steven mention Gem young nor had the Crystal Gems ever indicated that they could reproduce (although there was that one time he thought Steven was pregnant). He decided the creature had come from the space hand ship - perhaps aliens were coming to invade the Earth and had sent along their young to help repopulate the planet with their species. 

“That’s it!” Ronaldo exclaimed. “I need to blog about it! The world needs to know about this! Aliens are coming, and they are going to infest the earth!”

“Er, I think you need to tell Steven and his family about this first,” Peedee said gently. 

Ronaldo hadn’t even realized he was speaking out loud. He opened his mouth to argue with Peedee when the younger boy’s phone went off. 

He watched as Peedee took it out of his pocket, read a text, and put it back in his pocket. 

“It’s Dad,” Peedee said. “He says he needs me back at the fry shop. You’re going to tell Steven about this … uh, thing, right?”

“Of course,” Ronaldo replied. “Just after I blog about it…” he added under his breath.


	6. Chapter 6

Ronaldo looked down at the small striped Gem in the box while she looked up at him with plaintive yellow eyes. 

“I have to get you up to my office,” he said out loud as if she could understand him. 

Still wearing the gardening gloves, he gingerly picked up the box. Peedee had scoffed at him and seemed to think the protection was unnecessary, but Ronaldo knew how dangerous aliens could be. He carefully arranged the flaps on top of the box so they were shut tight and lifted it off the ground. He had expected a flurry of movement from inside the box, but the tiny Gem remained still. Just in case, Ronaldo very slowly made his way toward his office as if carrying a bomb. 

Once in the office, he sat down at his desk and put the Gem’s box on the floor next to his chair. He signed onto his computer and pulled up his Keep Beach City Weird blog dashboard. He looked at the screen, glanced at the box, and looked back at the computer. 

He was conflicted: for possibly the first time in his life, the voice inside his head was telling him to slow down instead of rush to a conclusion. He had wanted to blog about the infant as soon as he saw it but suddenly he wasn’t sure. The creature was special: a real live alien that only he (and Peedee) knew about. What if someone read his blog and wanted to take the infant away from him? 

On the other hand, what if aliens were coming to infest the Earth? Someone needed to know --  
and soon. … But, he reasoned, if he stayed quiet and made his own observations about the alien, he could be instrumental in helping to understand these invaders. He could be important! He decided to wait it out. 

Just then he heard a whimper from the box. Bending down, he undid the top flaps and looked at the infant Gem. He wondered if it needed food and if so, what kind. He reached for a half-eaten bag of Chaaaaps on his desk and tossed a chip in. The alien peered at it and then moved to the opposite side of the box. Perhaps it wanted water. He poured water from a water bottle into a dirty coffee mug. He set the mug in the box; the little creature disregarded that too. What did it want? He leaned back in his chair and decided to catch up on his favorite anime forum to take his mind off the matter. 

Eventually the creature let out a small whine and looked up at him again. It was unhappy -- that much he could guess. Did it need to go to the bathroom? He spread out some old newspaper pages on the floor, and pulling on the gardening gloves, he gingerly picked up the alien in order to put it on the newspaper. The infant Gem had other plans, though. 

Once in hand, she twisted around, scooted up his arm and was clinging to the front of his shirt before he had a chance to react. The Gem was trying to be a physically close to Ronaldo as possible; he had no way of knowing Gem hatchlings spent their first two weeks all but attached to their mothers’ sides soaking in their body heat as their physical forms cooled down to their pre-pregnancy state. In other words, the tiny Gem wanted to cuddle with him. 

Ronaldo frantically tried to pull the small alien off of him, but the harder he tugged, the more tightly it held on to him. Convinced the creature was trying to kill him, he carefully sat down and set up his webcam with one hand so at least his family would have some idea of what happened to him. It was a scenario he had planned for many times. He sat back and waited for death to come. 

After an hour had passed with the creature still benignly holding on to his shirt and with him still very much alive, he turned off his camera. He slumped in relief but was perplexed about to do next. That is, until he looked down and realized the alien had apparently fallen asleep and loosened its grip on his shirt. With more care than he thought he was capable of mustering, he plucked the creature from his shirt and put it back in its makeshift crate. 

The Gem immediately woke up and started shaking the box. The movement all but tipped the box over, and he realized he was going to need something much stronger than a cardboard box if the creature could jostle the box that much at such a small size. 

He thought he knew how to keep the alien contained, but he was going to need a few supplies. He closed the top flaps of the box again and put a heavy book on top. He did not want the alien to escape while he was gone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A portrait of the Steven with a young Gem.

Down at the beach house, Steven was learning his own impromptu lessons about infant Gem care.

That first day, after he and the Gems had searched the ship wreckage to Garnet’s satisfaction and returned to the house, the hatchling’s human namesake took one sweeping look around the place and pointed out the obvious. 

“What are you guys going to do with her?” Connie asked. “The house isn't exactly set up for a baby.”

Steven looked at the girl with a startled expression while the adult Gems looked at each other. Garnet finally spoke up. 

“Amethyst, I think a trip to your room is in order,” the fusion said. “Connie, stay in here with the hatchling. It’s much too dangerous for the two of you in Amethyst’s room.” 

The purple Gem started to object to Garnet’s description of her chambers but had to admit she was right. She closed her mouth and led the way toward the temple door. 

Once in Amethyst’s room, Garnet surveyed the detritus of the place and instructed the group to find a large, sturdy box, a few blankets, and something that could make heat. The four of them managed to find the first two items easily. 

The last item, an object that made heat, was more open to individual interpretation and soon there was a pile in front of Garnet that included lighters of various sizes, a package of hand warmers with Yellowtail’s name written on it, and a metal heat lamp intended for keeping young chickens warm. Garnet suspected the lamp had been pilfered from Greg’s family’s barn, but she knew it would be perfect for the hatchling. 

“Uh, what’s all that stuff for?” Connie asked when she saw the Gems and Steven come out of Amethyst’s room carrying what looked like very random items. 

“It’s for the infant,” Garnet replied. Before she could continue, they all heard a loud knock on the door. It was Greg. 

“Dad! Look what we found!” Steven exclaimed when his father walked in the door. He took the infant Gem from Connie and held her up for Greg to see. 

“Uh … what is it?” 

“It’s a baby Gem!” 

The older human immediately fainted and landed on the floor with a muffled thud. Without missing a beat, Garnet picked him up and laid him on the couch. 

“Dad, are you okay?” Steven asked when his father finally came to. 

“Yeah, I guess I didn’t think I could be surprised by any Gem stuff anymore, but you got me here,” he said with a nervous laugh. “Let me see her.” 

Steven handed Connie Jr. to his father. 

He held her so that they were about eye level to each other and started to coo at her with nonsense words. The older Gems had witnessed this many times before when Steven was a baby, but the boy had never seen his father with an infant and watched the scene with a starry-eyed expression. 

As Greg looked over the hatchling Gem, he recalled that Rose had told him about gemlings -- it was a part of how she knew she could have Steven -- but the human hadn’t been able to picture them given that he only had the acquaintance of his wife, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl to go by. 

He handed the baby back to Steven and turned to Connie. 

“You ready to go, kiddo?” he asked. The girl nodded yes, so they said their goodbyes to Steven and the Gems and walked out the door toward Greg’s van. 

After the humans left, Steven and the Gems immediately went about setting up a space for the hatchling. As Garnet had been about to explain to Connie, the large box was for containing the infant. It would be some time before the hatchling’s motor skills allowed her to range very far, and the fusion hoped the box would do until they could find something better, if any. 

The blankets were for padding -- the baby didn’t technically need it but she knew Steven would object to just putting her in a cardboard box. Finally, the stolen heat lamp was to keep the infant warm when she wasn’t being endlessly held by Steven. Together, they decided to put Connie Jr.’s makeshift crib in Steven’s loft as not just Amethyst’s but also Garnet and Pearl’s rooms were too perilous for a baby Gem. 

***

That night, Steven laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. Despite the excitement of the day, he was suddenly too wound up to fall asleep. He couldn’t believe he had found a hatchling Gem. He had no idea baby Gems were even possible and wondered why the older Gems hadn’t mentioned anything about them. 

He was interrupted from his thoughts by a low whine from near the foot of his bed where they had put Connie Jr.’s box. Steven scooted down to the end of the bed and took a peek at Connie Jr. She was very much awake too. The boy suddenly felt sorry for the hatchling and picked her up. 

“You look so lonely in there, baby Gem,” he said to her. “Do you want to sleep in my bed?” 

The hatchling couldn’t speak with words yet, but she looked at him with mournful eyes, which he took for a yes. He picked her up and got settled back in bed. He then tucked the small Gem under his arm like a living stuffed animal, and in turn she snuggled against him and made a sound similar to a cat’s purr. The soothing sound quickly lulled Steven to sleep. 

***

The next morning, Steven was reading a book in bed when he saw Garnet come in the front door of the house. He watched as she put a small bag down on the floor and removed a copious amount of sand from her bodysuit.

“Steven, bring the hatchling here,” she called from the foot of the stairs. The boy grabbed the hatchling from her box and went down to the living room. Steven sat facing Garnet with the infant in his lap. 

The fusion picked up the small bag and took out several strange looking yellow shards. To Steven, they looked looked like any number of the Gem shards currently bubbled in the burning room below them except for one difference: they did not glow or otherwise show any signs of life. 

“What are those?” he asked 

“These are shattered Gem geodes,” she responded. 

“What’s a geode?” 

“It’s where baby Gems come from.”

“I thought Gems came from Kindergartens.” 

“Not all of them,” she said cryptically. 

Steven then watched as Garnet picked up one of the shards and held it in front of Connie Jr.’s mouth as if offering her a piece of food. The hatchling took it with her small teeth briefly but then looked up at Garnet as if she expected the fusion to do something more. The infant spit the shard on the floor. 

Garnet cocked her head at the hatchling and adjusted her visor. 

“A-ha,” she said under her breath. 

The fusion summoned a gauntlet and crushed the shard to smaller pieces with her fist. She then tried offering one of the splinters to the hatching, and Connie Jr. was much more interested in it. The hatchling took the piece eagerly and appeared to slowly chew on it until it was no more. 

“What’s going on?” Steven asked. 

“Gems produce more geodes than will actually hatch, and the ones that survive usually consume the ones that don’t.” 

“Is a geode like ... an egg?” 

“Something like that.”

“Garnet?” 

“Yes, Steven?” 

“Can I make a geode?” 

“I don’t think so.” 

Steven blushed as Garnet placed the rest of the geode debris back in the bag. 

“We’ll save the rest of this for later,” she said as she stood up. 

“Garnet?” 

“Yes, Steven?” she answered warily. 

“How come you guys have never said anything about baby Gems?” 

She smiled gently at him and crouched down to kiss the boy on the top of his head. 

“I knew you were going to ask about that,” she said. “It’s not that we didn’t want to tell you, we just never thought we’d ever see a baby Gem on Earth, besides you, of course.” 

***

Later that week, Steven was playing with Connie Jr. in the living room when he put her down on the floor and looked at her thoughtfully. He then gazed at each of the adult Gems spread around the room. 

“Is something wrong, Steven?” Pearl asked after noticing his behavior. 

“Um … why doesn’t she have clothes?” 

Pearl and Garnet turned to each other on the couch and laughed as Amethyst frowned at them. 

“She’s too young for all that yet,” Garnet finally answered. “Just having a physical form is enough work for her gemstone.”

“But isn’t she cold? She’s only a baby!” 

“That’s why we set up that box in the loft for her,” the fusion replied. 

“But she’s not in there all of the time,” Steven protested. 

“Oh Steven, she’s a Gem, she’s fine,” Pearl answered. 

***

The following afternoon, as Steven was preparing lunch for himself, Amethyst sneaked up behind him and blew a raspberry at him. 

“Good afternoon, Amethyst,” he greeted her calmly. 

“Let’s take a trip to my room,” she said. 

“Can I take my bagel with me?” 

“Only if you grab one for me too.” 

Once more in the purple Gem’s cave-like room, he trailed behind Amethyst as she led him to a pile of boxes he hadn’t noticed the other day. It was the only mound in her room that seemed to be organized in any way, and then he realized the boxes must have been from his father’s storage unit when he recognized his Greg’s handwriting on them. He watched as Amethyst started moving some of them around with surprising care. 

“I didn’t think I’d have to deal with these boxes again so soon, but I know there’s at least one with your old baby junk in it,” she said. “I bet we could find something for Connie Jr. to wear until she’s old enough to generate her own clothes.” 

“But Pearl said she didn’t need clothes,” the boy said. 

“I know, but you sounded pretty worried about her.”

“Aww, Amethyst!”

The boy grabbed her in a bear hug. 

“Also, you know, I think it would be kind of funny to see her wear a baby human’s clothing,” she whispered in his ear. 

Steven immediately frowned at this but he also knew it was just Amethyst being Amethyst. 

Amethyst eventually found the right box and handed it to Steven. She wandered off as the boy opened the box to find tiny T-shirts and pants and the standard-issue infant onesies. There were also a few small toys and what appeared to be a space-themed mobile, although he wasn’t sure he had ever had a crib. 

Steven chose a few of the nicer looking onesies; if he had to guess, the hatchling was a bit smaller than the average human infant, but he figured she would manage. He also grabbed a sturdy looking rattle for her to play with. He called Amethyst over and they put the stack of boxes back as it was. 

***

Entering the loft, Steven picked up the infant from her makeshift crib and sat down on the floor with her to dress her in what he thought was the most fetching onesie -- a blue one with a pattern of yellow rocket ships and shooting stars. Steven held her as she squirmed hard in response to the clothing but she soon calmed down, as if accepting her fate. 

Unable to stifle a giggle, the boy hugged her close and whispered soothingly to her. He then scooted over to his TV, moved the hatchling to a comfortable spot in his lap, and booted up his video game console.


	8. Interlude II

Agreeing to fuse with Jasper had been a gamble on Lapis’ part, and the only reason it paid off was because they had been standing next to the ocean. Fusion already felt like being swept by a wave, and the additional physical sensation of being dragged under actual water was too much for Jasper. The orange Gem had been weakened by her fight with Garnet -- she couldn’t fight the ocean too. 

Nonetheless, Jasper’s lingering grief for her lost geodes was almost too much for Lapis, not to mention the orange Gem’s fresh shock over seeing the Rose Quartz gemstone again and the fury she still felt over what she saw as a betrayal by Yellow Diamond. Lapis had anger of her own, though; she still raged inside over being trapped in the mirror for so long and felt deeply insulted by the Crystal Gems and their carelessness. She was also unable to get past the shame of returning to Homeworld only to discover she was somewhat obsolete among younger Gems like Peridot with their outlandish cybernetic prostheses. 

Their individual ire eventually coalesced and made them one singular being instead of driving Jasper and Lapis apart. Unbeknownst to them, Garnet had declared their fusion would be unstable, but she had been wrong, and she would be horrified to know that Malachite was fueled by vengeance and not by love. 

As Malachite’s unique personality finally emerged and the individuals known as Lapis and Jasper disappeared, there was no longer a need for chains or to dwell at the bottom of the ocean. At last the huge green fusion surfaced and spread her immense wings. Malachite was going to fly, and she was coming for the Crystal Gems.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now with bonus scenes! 
> 
> I promise this is the last time I do -- that -- to Jasper.

All had been continuing to be well with the new addition to the Crystal Gems until she learned how to crawl. In doing so, she became quite the little escape artist: on more than a few occasions Steven looked for her everywhere around the house only to find her outside sitting on the deck, and, even once, sitting down on the beach. 

When stress about where he’d find the gemling next made him irritable and uncharacteristically rude, the older Gems decided to intervene and give him a break from watching over the young Gem. And so one day Steven found himself kicked out of the beach house by the Crystal Gems with no explanation other than it was for his own good.

***

He was cutting through the alley between the fry shop and Fish Stew Pizza when he ran into Ronaldo sitting on a stack of crates and doodling in a notebook. 

“Hey, Ronaldo, haven’t seen you in a while,” Steven greeted him.

He innocently peeked around Ronaldo’s shoulder to see what he was working on and immediately frowned. The drawing was a suspiciously close rendering of Connie Jr., except that the stripes were all wrong. 

Ronaldo looked up sharply as if suddenly realizing he was there and closed the notebook a little too quickly. 

“Oh … hey Steven,” Ronaldo said warily. 

“Ronaldo, what were you drawing?” Steven asked him. 

“It’s uh … nothing,” the other boy lied and stood up to walk toward the shop. Steven knit his eyebrows together. It wasn’t like Ronaldo to keep his doodles to himself. 

“Ronaldo,” he said sternly and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“It’s just something for Keep Beach City Weird,” he said but wouldn’t make eye contact with the younger boy.

“Then why can’t I see it?” Steven demanded. 

“Because …” Ronaldo trailed off. “Because... it’s exclusive content!” he added with forced excitement. 

Before Steven could press him any further, Lion ran up out of nowhere. 

“Lion! What are you doing here?” Steven asked incredulously. 

The feline responded by roaring loudly in Steven’s face and then nudging him rather roughly with his nose. 

“Not now, Lion,” he said and pushed the creature’s face away. He heard Ronaldo whimper in fright. 

“Is he going to eat me?” He asked shakily while staring at Lion. 

“Who? Lion? Of course not.” Steven replied impatiently.

The pink cat nudged him again and growled in a way Steven had never heard before; the sound made the hair stand up on the back of his neck and his gemstone flash briefly. 

“Okay, okay,” Steven said. With a displeased look at Ronaldo, he hopped on Lion’s back and the cat immediately started galloping toward the temple. 

***

Steven knew something was amiss as soon Lion brought him to the beach house: Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were facing the ocean and gripping their weapons although there was no visible threat. 

“Steven! There you are!” Garnet said. 

“What’s going on?” Steven asked. 

“Malachite is coming!” she cried. “She’s almost here!”

“What?” Steven gasped. 

“Look!” Pearl shouted. 

Using her spear to point, she directed his attention to a large green shape on the far horizon that was coming closer every moment. With a deep breath, he summoned his shimmering pink shield and watched Lion run to the farthest end of the beach to roar at the sea. They all gasped when the fusion came into view -- she was flying and appeared to be doing so atop a giant water tornado that disappeared as soon as she reached the beach. 

“Let’s try this again,” Malachite said with a sneer. She landed on the ground, abandoned her wings, and made a giant battle axe made of water. The fight was on. 

***

Back at the beach house, Connie Jr. was mewling pitifully in front of the screen door. She had been left alone and forgotten amidst the arrival of Malachite, and now she was afraid. Upon hearing her beloved protector Steven in the vicinity of the house, she pressed her little head against the mesh of the door and pushed it gently open. She crawled out of the house, down the stairs, and toward Steven. 

When she reached him, she rubbed her face against his leg and then started climbing up his body. Not knowing what was going on, Steven started flailing and then finally realized it was Connie Jr. 

“You shouldn’t be here!” he wailed and tried to grab the gemling from off his back. He succeeded and hugged Connie Jr. to his chest, but his sudden movements caught Malachite’s eye, who scuttled over to get a closer look. 

“What’s going on over here?” She said in her strange double voice. She bent down so that she was eye level to Steven, intending to scare him, but all of her eyes suddenly went wide when she realized what he was holding. 

“They survived?” Jasper’s voice came through clearly but softly. Malachite stood up and scanned the beach. “Why is there only one? Where is the other?” 

“What other what?” Steven asked without thinking. 

“There were two of them,” Jasper was still speaking. 

“She’s the … only one,” Steven said, although Ronaldo’s notebook flashed through his mind and he suddenly wondered if there was another gemling somewhere. 

“You’re lying!” Malachite snarled after she noticed his hesitation. 

From the cradle of Steven’s arms, Connie Jr. answered Malachite with a small snarl of her own and the fusion started laughing. Steven felt his legs give out at the evil sound and sank to his knees on the sand. It was too much for the boy, but there was hope: from his new vantage point, he realized he could see the Crystal Gems standing behind Malachite and shot a look at Amethyst. She suddenly grinned and winked at him. 

Steven had no idea what the Gems were planning, but with an unexpected surge of confidence he held his gemling tight, kissed her on top of her head and generated a large pink bubble to protect them. 

“NOW!” Steven heard Garnet shout. 

From his bubble, he watched Malachite whip her head around to look at the other Gems as if she had forgotten they were there, but it was too late. She froze as if paralyzed and then abruptly unfused. In the spot where the fusion had just been were two gleaming gemstones and Garnet, who was holding a Gem destabilizer, of all things, with a satisfied look on her face. 

“I’ve been waiting to use that,” she said. 

As soon as she saw the dazed look on his face, Garnet ran over to where Steven was still crouched on the sand with Connie Jr. 

“Steven, are you alright?” Garnet asked. Amethyst and Pearl came running up behind her. 

“Yeah…” He trailed off. From the moment Malachite had insisted there should have been two gemlings in the hand ship wreckage, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Ronaldo’s notebook. 

“Steven, what’s wrong?” Garnet asked more firmly this time. She bent down on one knee in front of the boy so she could be closer to eye level with him. 

Steven took a deep breath and hugged Connie Jr. for assurance. 

“You know how Malachite said there should be two baby Gems?” he said, looking into Garnet’s visor. 

“Yes?” Garnet answered. 

“I think she was ... right,” he said. “I think we ... missed one?” 

“What? Pearl gasped. 

“We need to check the lighthouse,” Steven added more confidently. He was about to describe his encounter with Ronaldo and his notebook when there was the telltale sound of a Gem reforming behind them. It was Jasper. 

Before any of the Crystal Gems could do anything, the huge orange Gem crouched down, launched herself straight up in the air and landed on one of the stone arms of the temple. They watched in horror as she stopped long enough to look up at the lighthouse above her, generate a haze of orange electricity around herself, and jump up again. 

“We have to get to the lighthouse!” Garnet and Pearl screamed at the same time. 

Lion ran up to them with a roar, and Garnet, Pearl and Steven quickly got on the feline’s back. Amethyst shapeshifted into a falcon, and they all raced off toward the hill before the lighthouse. 

Upon reaching the structure, the group stopped short to survey the damage: there was one huge hole in the roof of the house next to the lighthouse and several smaller holes in the wall of the lighthouse proper. Shattered glass littered the ground, and charred looking debris fluttered in the air. Despite the mess, the lighthouse seemed oddly and suspiciously silent. 

“Where’s Jasper?” Steven asked nervously. 

“I don’t know,” Pearl murmured from behind him on Lion. 

Just then they heard a strange cry from somewhere inside the lighthouse that made them all shiver.  
With surprising speed, Connie Jr. sprang out of Steven’s arms, landed on the ground, and scurried into the lighthouse. 

Steven began to get down from Lion so he could chase after the gemling, but Garnet stretched a hand and kept him from going anywhere. 

“Steven,” the fusion said. 

“What if she’s is in danger?” he protested. 

“I’ll go get her,” Amethyst offered. Still in her bird form, the purple Gem darted into the lighthouse too. 

“Amethyst, wait!” Garnet shouted and sighed. Amethyst soon reappeared and changed back into her regular form in front of them. 

“Guys, um, there’s something you should see,” she said. 

“But Jasper…” Pearl objected. 

“She’s, well… you should just see,” Amethyst replied awkwardly. 

Beckoning them to follow, the purple Gem led them through the hole in the lighthouse wall and stopped when they were all inside the main room. Switching to hand signals, she told them to stay where they were while she crept toward the other side of the room. 

“Amethyst, just what is going on?” Pearl spoke up impatiently. 

“Shhh!” The purple Gem replied. She stopped when she was almost in the center of the room and pointed at something on the floor. The other Gems and Steven gasped in unison. 

In the middle of a pile of debris, Connie Jr. was purring and affectionately nuzzling another gemling who was her twin in every way except for the placement of her stripes. 

Jasper’s familiar triangular gemstone gleamed on the floor just beyond the two gemlings.


	10. Interlude III

As soon as she heard Steven say the other gemling might be in the lighthouse, Jasper knew she had to make one last effort to find her offspring even though she also knew would have to retreat back into her gemstone again fairly quickly. She reformed on the beach, and she was on her way. 

Aloft in the air above the lighthouse, she misjudged her trajectory and crashed through the roof of the house next to the lighthouse. It was no matter - she punched her way into the room with her second gemling. The tiny Gem greeted her mother with a high-pitched yowl from the cage Ronaldo had quickly moved her into during her first week on Earth. 

Seeing her gemling confined in a human-made contraption fueled Jasper into a blind fury. She tore the cage open and hugged the screaming gemling to her chest. Then, with one hand, she tore the place apart and kicked over Ronaldo’s desk and cabinets, not caring where they landed other than away from her precious gemling. She frantically threw the Ronaldo’s countless drawings and notes all over the floor and ignited them with a small balls of lightning. 

Suddenly, she felt her body glitch, and she panicked as she almost dropped the gemling due to the brief insubstantiality of her physical form. Out of the nowhere, the events on the ship just before she landed on Earth -- her frustration with Yellow Diamond, delivering her geodes too soon -- came rushing back to her with intense clarity. Clutching her second and last living gemling, Jasper fell to her knees. She couldn’t do this again. She made a decision. 

She was made for fighting, it was true, but she hadn’t survived this many millennia without knowing when to surrender once in awhile. Crouched on the ground with her gemling, she heard the Crystal Gems shouting to each other and charging up the hill toward the lighthouse. She despised the Crystal Gems, but she had noted they hadn’t shattered or visibly harmed her other gemling, and for that she was honestly grateful. With a sigh, she put the gemling on the floor and gently retreated into her gemstone. The other Gems would take care of the rest. Her two pups had survived, and so would she, somehow.


	11. Chapter 11

“Well, now what” Pearl said, breaking the hushed silence. 

“Let’s bring her home,” Garnet answered. 

As if sensing they were talking about her, Connie Jr.’s twin broke away from her sister and looked up at the Crystal Gems. And immediately scurried under the remains of what used to be Ronaldo’s desk. Steven was the first to go after her. 

Crouching down on his hands and knees, he peered into where the gemling had run. 

“Come here, baby Gem, I don’t want to hurt you,” he said in a soft voice.

The young Gem stared at him balefully from under the shredded particle board and let out a quiet hiss. 

“Don’t be like that,” he said in a mock reprimanding tone and started lifting pieces of the desk away. 

When he could almost touch her, he stopped what he had been doing and began slowly moving his hand toward the gemling. She hissed again, this time louder, and when he didn’t take the hint, she bit him right between his thumb and his index finger. Steven yelped and yanked his hand away from the gemling. 

“She bit me,” he said dumbly to himself. 

“I know. We saw,” Amethyst replied dryly. Steven glanced behind him and realized the purple Gem and Garnet had been watching him with amusement. 

“Step aside, I got this,” she added and shapeshifted into a smaller, toddler-like version of herself and approached the pile to try her hand at extracting the gemling.

“She’s Jasper’s all right,” Amethyst said reproachfully after getting bitten by the gemling too. 

“My turn,” Garnet said and abruptly summoned her gauntlets. 

“Don’t hurt her!” Steven cried when he saw what Garnet was doing. 

“I would never,” Garnet said. She bent down to look for the gemling and quickly pulled her out by the back of her neck. The gemling kept hissing and nipping at Garnet, but the fusion’s gauntlets were no match for a baby Gem. 

“Aww,” Garnet chuckled and handed the agitated gemling to Amethyst, who awkwardly gripped the baby by the waist and held her away from her person. 

“What’s wrong with her?” Steven asked. “Connie Jr. never acts this way.” The gemling in question came up to Steven and rubbed her face against his leg. He gently picked her up and absentmindedly put his nose in her hair. 

“Steven, do you know what your … friend was doing up here with her?” Pearl asked delicately as she walked up to them; the pale Gem had gotten impatient while the others while they tried to catch the second gemling and went to investigate the rest of Ronaldo’s space. She was holding a piece of what used to be the nameless gemling’s cage with her spear and eyeing it suspiciously. 

“No! I didn’t even know he had a Gem up here until this afternoon,” he answered irritably. “I’m so mad at him!” 

“Maybe Ronaldo can tell us himself,” Garnet announced cryptically and adjusted her visor. 

“What?” Steven and Pearl asked in unison.

As if on cue, there was a panicked wail from outside the lighthouse. They all turned toward the massive hole in the side of the lighthouse and watched Ronaldo climb through it. 

“What did you do?” He gasped when he saw Steven and the Gems. 

“What did we do?” Pearl asked sharply. “What have you been doing?” 

“I can’t believe you found a baby Gem and didn’t tell me!” Steven blurted out hysterically. 

“I can explain…” Ronaldo answered and backed away from the group when he saw the indignant looks on each of their faces. “I just … I just … wanted to study her,” he finished lamely. 

“Study her? Gems aren’t science projects, Ronaldo!” Steven yelled and took a step toward him. 

“Dude, what’s wrong with you?” Amethyst said disapprovingly and glared at him as menacingly as she could while holding on to a squirming gemling. 

“Quiet!” Garnet suddenly shouted over all of them, effectively ending the clamor. “I want to hear what he has to say. Ronaldo?” 

“Ye-es … ma’am?” 

“What is the meaning of all this?” 

“It all began a few months ago,” he began rather dramatically. 

“Ronaldo...,” Steven said threateningly and scowled at him. 

Ronaldo gulped. “I found her the night that weird hand-shaped ship came to Beach City,” he reluctantly continued in a flat voice. “There were pieces of the ship all over the hill, and she came out of the wreckage. I thought it would be cool to keep her up here. I was going to blog about her, but then I changed my mind.” 

“Why is there a cage up here?” Garnet asked. 

“I didn’t want her to run away, so I put her in an old rabbit hutch from my dad’s basement.” 

“And then what?” 

“Nothing? I just looked at her a lot, wrote down notes about her behavior. It’s not everyday you come across an alien on your doorstep.” 

“Oh, if you wanted to know more about Gems, you could have just come to the temple,” Pearl interjected with annoyance. 

“Ronaldo, you have no idea what you’re dealing with,” Garnet said. “You should have brought her to us immediately.”

Garnet stepped in front of the blonde and drew herself up to her full height. He flinched and then gasped in fear when she took off her visor with a flourish to stare at him intently with all of her eyes uncovered.

“I have no choice but to punish you for capturing and endangering a young Gem,” she said in a commanding tone. “Look at me, Ronaldo.”

When he refused to and shuddered, she gripped his chin and made him look at her. She then pressed her right palm firmly against his forehead, and he started shivering in earnest although the room was quite warm. 

“If you ever so much as think about Gems again,” she said very carefully, “I will know about it, and I will come find you. Do you understand?” 

“Yes,” Ronaldo answered, his voice breaking. 

“Now go,” Garnet said and took her hand away from him. 

They watched as Ronaldo got up to leave the way he came and started jogging down the hill without a backwards glance at them. 

Steven came up to Garnet and put a hand on her arm. 

“Can you really tell when he’s thinking about Gems?” he asked in an awed voice. 

“No, but he doesn’t know that,” Garnet said casually. “Let’s go back to the temple.”

***

Exhausted by the day’s events, the group slowly made their way back to the temple. Upon entering the house, Amethyst made a beeline for the couch while Garnet and Pearl all but collapsed on the floor. Steven defiantly remained standing, though, and carefully scanned the room.

“Steven, is something wrong?” Pearl asked tiredly. 

“What happened to Jasper?” Steven replied. 

“I bubbled her,” Pearl answered while hastily stifling a yawn. “Lapis too.”

“What? How could you?” 

“Steven, it was the right thing to do,” Garnet said gently. 

“But I don’t think they should be separated,” Steven said matter of factly. 

“Who are you talking about? Lapis and Jasper?” Amethyst chimed in sleepily. 

“No, well, Jasper and …,” he trailed off and gestured at the two gemlings, who were busy trying to chew on each other’s hair. 

“You want her in the house?” Amethyst asked incredulously and sat up properly on the couch. 

“Steven, this isn’t going to work,” Garnet spoke up. “Jasper is very old, and she’s very powerful, and you’ve seen what she can do.” 

“But --” 

“No but’s,” Garnet said firmly. 

“She’s their mom,” Steven pleaded. 

“Well, if you put it that way…” Pearl said thoughtfully. 

“Steven, is that what this is all about?” Garnet said softly and gently held his hand. The boy met her gaze and slowly nodded his head. Still looking at him, she sat back on her heels and adjusted her visor. 

“Okay,” she began after a few long moments. “Jasper can stay in the house, but I want at least one of us to stay in the house with Steven at all times until she reforms, and we know what she means to do.” 

“Really?” Steven, Amethyst and Pearl answered simultaneously with varying degrees of astonishment. 

“Yes,” Garnet said with finality. 

Suddenly, there was a scratching at the screen door, and they all jumped together in startlement. It was Lion, trying to open the front door with a paw. 

“Lion can help watch for Jasper too,” Garnet quickly added as she got up to let him in. 

“Oh, thank you, Garnet!” Steven exclaimed and hugged her tightly. “Will you take me to the Burning Room now?” 

“Sure, Steven.” She watched as the boy all but sprinted to the temple gate ahead of her. 

As Garnet turned to walk toward him, Pearl stood up and gripped the fusion’s arm. 

“You can’t seriously be doing this,” she said in a low voice. 

“I … Rose … would have wanted us to at least try,” Garnet sighed.

“This isn’t going to end well,” Pearl said anxiously. 

“You’d be surprised,” Garnet replied. Kissing the pale Gem on top of her head, she started walking toward the temple gate where Steven was waiting.


	12. Chapter 12

Jasper was vaguely aware of her gemstone being moved, of being plunged into a dull, senseless void and being moved again. She suddenly heard her gemlings nearby, and she tried to reform, but it wasn’t time yet. She waited it out although it was maddening to have the little ones so close by and not be able to touch them. She tried to reform once more, and this time her form materialized and kept. Jasper looked around and realized she had no idea where she was.

Getting into a crouch, she took stock of her surroundings: she was indoors, and the wall she was closest to was made of glass through which bright moonlight streamed. So, it was nighttime. She realized the strange human -- she questioned whether it was truly a human -- with Rose’s gemstone was not far from her, although it appeared to be at rest judging from its lack of movement and slow breathing pattern.

Continuing to scan the room, she locked eyes with a large pink beast whose Earth name she couldn’t remember. Whatever it was, she wasn’t sure she liked it so close to her and silently bared her teeth. The animal only chuffed at her and then put its huge head on top of its front legs and kept one wary eye on her.

All seemed quiet … wherever she was, so she sat and slumped against the wall behind her and closed her eyes. She had really done it this time: despite reforming, her body felt leaden, and she didn’t think she could move very far even if she had somewhere to go at the moment. At least she was finally in one place with her two living gemlings, and that was a place to start.

Opening her eyes, she looked around for her offspring and saw them cuddled together on some sort of cushion. They were as still as the human, and she was loathe to disturb them. Propping her head with her arm, she laid on her side and watched them at rest. Unable to resist touching them, she reached out and gently stroked their hair. She marveled over how they seemed to be miniature versions of herself, except for their coloring, which was mostly yellow, like their sire… Yellow Diamond.

The thought of the Gem leader made her growl low in her throat. How dare her mate not only withhold the true purpose of her mission but also demand she stay on Earth when the Gem leader knew how Jasper felt about the planet. Jasper didn’t realize she was still growling until she noticed both gemlings were awake and looking at her curiously. Sighing quietly, she felt ashamed of herself for rousing them unnecessarily.

One of the gemlings came toward Jasper to nuzzle her face, and, not knowing what moved her to do so, the orange Gem stuck out her tongue to tentatively lick the gemling in front of her. The gemling gave a tiny purr and Jasper purred softly back at her, surprising herself. She kept licking the gemling until she closed her eyes, and then Jasper moved on to her twin. When she was finished with both gemlings, Jasper felt a strange sort of peace wash over her, and she closed her eyes too.

That was, until she heard a slight rustle and a stifled giggle. She looked over, and it was the human. She realized he must have been watching her tend to her gemlings, and she scowled at him.

“What are you looking at?” She asked in a hoarse but irritable voice.

The boy shook his head at her, and tried to look away, but it was as if he couldn’t not regard her with a starry-eyed expression that she would know anywhere even if she didn’t recognize the face it was on. Those eyes were all Rose Quartz. Jasper realized she had never been this close to the human without other Gems around, and she crept forward to study him in the moonlight. She did not understand how he could have a gemstone, much less Rose’s.

“What are you?” she asked suddenly.

“I’m Steven,” he answered as if that explained everything.

“But you have Rose’s gemstone …”

“Rose is my mom,” he said matter of factly.

“What’s a mom?” she asked, knitting her eyebrows together.

“That’s um … it’s like … wait, aren’t you their mom?” He offered and gestured toward the gemlings behind her. She glanced at them and wasn’t sure what he was getting at. Did he come from Rose? Who was her mate, then? And where did she go? So many questions ran through her mind but there was only one that was important.

“But why isn’t she here?” Jasper asked carefully.

“She’s … gone,” the boy said with resignation.

“Sounds like Rose,” she muttered to herself and tossed her hair.

“Hey, don’t talk like that!” the boy practically shouted. Standing up suddenly, the little human balled his hands into fists and scowled at her. She glowered right back at him, and the two of them stared each other down until they were interrupted by shouting.

“Steven, are you alright?” Jasper heard the fusion yell from below them and watched as she ran up the stairs with the Pearl and the Amethyst on her heels.

“Why didn’t you bring Steven with you?” The Pearl suddenly snapped at the Amethyst. “She could have really hurt him!”

“Pearl, this isn’t really the time,” the fusion said warningly. Jasper couldn’t help but smirk. She could barely exit the room, much less harm the child, but they didn’t need to know that.

“You! Get away from him!” The Pearl screeched suddenly in her direction.

“I didn’t do anything to him,” Jasper snapped but still moved away from the human. She leaned back against the far wall by her gemlings, who immediately climbed into her lap.

“You better not have!” The Pearl said with a hysterical edge in her voice and jabbed the air with a cruel looking spear. Jasper watched as the two gemlings in her lap jumped up with squeaks of fright and tried to squeeze themselves between her back and the wall. Glaring at the Pearl, Jasper reached out with a long arm and swatted the sharp weapon away. She noted with satisfaction that the Pearl was knocked off balance and almost fell down.

“Hey, watch it,” the Amethyst said and took a step toward her. She began to pull a whip out of her gemstone, and Jasper stilled. The way she coiled the whip in her hands suddenly reminded Jasper of the water chains Lapis used to restrain her when they first fused. Jasper shrank away from the Amethyst and tried to fight the panic surging in her core. She would not be shackled again, not when she was finally free.

“What? Are you afraid of my whip?” The Amethyst continued tauntingly and made a show of letting the whip go slack with a flick of her wrist. Jasper found couldn’t take her eyes off the weapon and froze against the wall.

“Guys, stop it,” the human wailed.

Snapping out of it, Jasper summoned her helmet but it only lasted a few seconds before dissipating of its own accord. Shaking her head, she generated her helmet again, and it lasted this time, but when she opened her mouth to sneer at the Crystal Gems, no sound came out. Clapping a hand on her mouth, she looked at them in wide-eyed confusion. The Amethyst laughed, and Jasper saw the Pearl and the fusion glance at each other in confusion.

“Amethyst, knock it off,” the Pearl said with exasperation.

Finding an unknown reserve of energy, Jasper lunged toward the purple Gem, and the two quartzes rolled off the edge of Steven’s loft and crashed onto the floor below. Somewhere in the background, the Pearl screamed. Jasper and the Amethyst wrestled clumsily for a few turns until the purple Gem was lifted away from her. Shrieking in frustration, Jasper frantically looked around for her adversary and saw that the fusion had stretched her arms abnormally long to grab the other Gem from a distance and keep her away from Jasper.

“Let me at her!” the Amethyst yelled and struggled against the fusion. The purple Gem quickly shapeshifted into a cat and with a hiss, sprang from the fusion’s arms to dash across the room away from all of them.

Irritated that the fusion even felt the need to assist her, Jasper tried to stand up to confront her but succeeded only in flailing where she lay on the floor. She screamed in frustration and stared at the ceiling. Just then the Pearl came into view and peered down at her with a quizzical expression.

“What do you want?” Jasper snapped.

The Pearl tsked and soon the human was peering down at her too from beside the pale Gem.

“It’s okay, sometimes my powers stop working too,” he said all too cheerfully, “but not right now.”

To the utter horror of both her and the Pearl, the boy picked her up and lifted her over his head since she was far too big to carry in his arms.

“Put me down,” she shrieked.

“Steven!” The Pearl scolded.

Ignoring them, the boy took Jasper up the stairs to the loft and set her down near her gemlings. Jasper groaned with exasperation while he walked away and then sagged against the floor as the pair gemlings clumsily climbed on top of her.


	13. Chapter 13

The next few days were hazy for Jasper. It seemed the Crystal Gems didn’t quite know what to do with her, and she didn’t quite know what to do with them. Jasper didn’t know what to do with herself either: her powers continued to be sporadic at best, and she remained mortified by her show of weakness in front of enemy Gems. She thanked the stars they, other than the Amethyst, did not appear eager to harm her and left her alone for the time being, which she suspected had something to do with the strange human somehow.  

Jasper also couldn’t believe how she had reacted to being reminded of Lapis. The blue Gem still had an effect on her emotions even when they were separated, Jasper reflected bitterly. She regretted ever asking her to fuse that day on the beach. She had underestimated Lapis because very few Gems had ever been capable of besting her single-handedly. How was she to know of the raw anger that consumed the blue Gem? Jasper looked out the window at the ocean outside and closed her eyes. She couldn’t stop thinking about Lapis.

On the way to Earth, Jasper hadn’t exactly understood the blue Gem’s fascination with her geodes, but once they fused and Jasper witnessed her memories, it all became clear. While still on Homeworld, Lapis had become the worst kind of Gem -- a Gem without a purpose: originally, Lapis Lazulis had been created to protect the offspring of Blue Diamond and those in her court, but eventually gemlings had been discouraged and then finally nonexistent for thousands of years.

There was no more need for Lapis Lazulis, and so they were destroyed. Unlike her cohorts, this Lapis had thought to beg her Diamond not to shatter her, and the matriarch was so moved by the pretty blue Gem she let her become a messenger and occasional companion -- roles better suited for a Pearl -- until she was finally sent to Earth, abandoned, and trapped in the mirror.

The longer Jasper fused with her, the more Lapis’ feelings of abandonment and isolation overwhelmed her. The huge orange Gem had always been wanted -- for her strength, her skills, her potential -- and Lapis leeched off those feelings until the loyal Quartz was left with nothing but loneliness and resentment to match Lapis’...

Brought out of her reverie by the purring gemlings nosing at her back, Jasper turned away from the window and curled up with the whelps. She detested sleeping, but the alternative was staying in her gemstone, and she refused to spend any less time with her gemlings, so swallowed her pride and rested when they did.

/////  _Jasper was on a warship with a squad of other Quartz soldiers when the vessel suddenly lurched and fell out of the sky to crash land on a random Earth beach. She watched as all of the other soldiers poofed on impact, leaving her alone. The orange Gem struggled to keep her footing on the sand, and suddenly Rose Quartz was there with her back turned to her._

_“Rose, help me! Where am I?” Jasper cried out._

_Jasper managed to free herself from the sand and come closer to Rose; when the pink Gem did not acknowledge her, Jasper circled her only to find she was always looking at the back of Rose’s head. She reached out to touch Rose, and the other Gem vanished in an instant._

_Just then Jasper felt water touching her feet and an unknown force yanked the lower half of her body so that she was suddenly lying facedown in the pool that had formed. The water kept rising until she was completely submerged, and then she was pulled down impossibly far from where she had started. She struggled to see in the darkness until she saw a dim pink light appear in the distance._

_“Rose?” She tried to speak but water filled her mouth. She tried to close her mouth to keep the water out, but it just rushed into her physical form and threatened to make her retreat into her gemstone._

_Just when she thought she might poof, she was dragged even deeper, and soon she was hanging upside down with a cerulean chain wrapped around her. Directly below her was a crystalline platform, and she knew deep in her core that if she fell from where she hung, she would hit her gemstone and shatter immediately. She let out the smallest of whimpers at the thought._

_The human with Rose’s stone materialized out of nowhere to look up at her and gasped in horror. Of course he was here, she thought, annoyance bubbling up under her fear. The boy vanished, and Lapis took his place; she leered up at Jasper and then floated away to watch her from a distance._

_ “You’re doing this! Let me go!” Jasper screamed in her direction.  _

_The blue Gem did not respond, but more cerulean chains appeared until they started to weigh Jasper down. As the huge Gem was being pulled toward the platform that would break her, she began struggling against the binding hoping that if she had to fall she’d land somewhere other than directly on her gemstone. She would not shatter here in the abyss._

_The boy reappeared and reached up to grab her hand._

_“No, don’t!” She wailed, and suddenly she began to fall in earnest._ /////

Waking up with a start, Jasper realized the boy was beside her and holding her hand as tightly as he had in her dream. They stared at each other, and then she backed away from him.

“What are you?” She said while trying to keep her voice even. This human might have had Rose’s stone and her shield, but he had abilities she had never seen before. Just what was this creature, she wondered.

“Is that … is that how it felt to fuse with Lapis?” The boy suddenly asked in a small voice.

She looked away from him.

“She really hurt you, didn’t she?” He continued.

Jasper didn’t answer him and wondered where his keepers were until she realized the boy’s pink beast was watching them keenly from below the loft.

The human suddenly put his arms around her and she squirmed out of his embrace.

“Stop it! Get away from me,” she yelled. She didn’t want him near her.

“I’m so sorry, Jasper,” he whispered.


End file.
